Insufferable Heat is Almost Torture
by StephanieIrvine
Summary: It's warm. Very warm. Chris Jericho hates the heat with a passion. Can Stephanie McMahon cool him down? Or will she only help make his temperature rise?


**A/N - Hey there guys, this is a new story for me I hope you all enjoy it. Please review and tell me what you think.  
  
A/N 2 - I posted this on last Wednesday, and I accidentially put it under a G rating, I accept that I was wrong to do so with it having such a strong swear word in it and I apologise if I offended anyone, it wasn't my intent. So I hope you don't take offence to me re-posting it under a higher rating.  
  
Disclaimer - I don't own Chris Jericho or Stephanie McMahon, they pretty much own themselves.**  
  
Two words floated through his head. Fucking. Hot. Or Damn hot. Or any other profane term to accompany hot. It sure as hell wasn't warm and it wasn't balmy. It wasn't anywhere near the _"pleasant"_ nature of the weather that the smarmy newscaster on the tv was reporting it was. It was tepid and the humidity was beyond belief. The windows in his hotel room weren't even affected by the air-conditioning, as they continued to steam and form droplets of water that trailed down the pane of the window leaving behind a trail, all due to the glaring sun outside. This had to be the worst heat wave in the entire world and he Chris Jericho, just happened to be stuck in the middle of it.  
  
He lay motionless on his bed. Every movement causing him even more discomfort, than he was already in. He watched the heat waves dance across his room, seeking out shadows that tried to escape this engulfing heat. He should be taking advantage of the hotel pool right now, he thought to himself, but that involved moving and he could not find the energy to partake in that activity. With great effort he rolled his head to the left and spotted his can of soda, he had opened minutes earlier. Reaching out for it he tiredly lifted it to his dry lips hoping to find some sort of relief, but instead found that it had already gone flat and the heated liquid that moved down his throat, left nothing but a metallic residue in its aftermath.  
  
He went back to his previous state of staring into nothingness, until he noticed a random fly move across his room, buzzing unenthusiastically, trying to escape from the cocoon of never-ending heat it found itself in. He watched as it flew into the window confusing itself even more in its escape for the outside. He almost wanted to laugh, but that would involve using strength and he had none to give. All around him was silent, like he had stepped into oblivion and no one else had followed. He often hoped for moments like this. So silent that it was almost deafening, with no one or nothing to be heard. But he did hear knocking; strong enough to catch his attention, but soft enough to know that the person on the other end was suffering the weather just as he was.  
  
Grudgingly he pulled himself up off of his bed and gravitated to his door. When he got there he reached up, twisted the handle and slowly pulled the door open. In front of him stood a sweaty Stephanie McMahon in a white tank top and black shorts. Much like himself only he had the advantage of not having to wear anything on top.  
  
"Hi," she said in greeting. Chris grunted in response. The weather making him less the conversationist than he already was. It was just simply to hot to talk. It was just too damn hot to do anything. A slight breeze escaped into his room past them both, causing them to shiver due to the unexpected but welcoming change in temperature, however fleeting it was, because as the door shut, it disappeared in an instant, throwing them back into the unrelenting heat that seemed to be covering everything.  
  
"I brought us ice-cream," Stephanie said him with a slight smile, that got larger as she noticed him perk up at her words. "Though, I'm guessing due to this heat its more than likely turned into a milkshake instead," she told while, producing that said ice-cream tub and sitting it on the table.  
  
"What are you doing here?" he questioned her.  
  
"What, I can't visit my bestest buddy, when I want to?" Stephanie questioned back.  
  
"Bestest isn't a word Steph, I've told you that. You know you only visit me when you want something." Chris replied back with a hint of a smile playing on his lips.  
  
"You lie! I come to see you all the time," she responded to him, but only received a dubious look in return. "Ok, fine!" she said to him with a sigh. "I was bored, and the pool isn't even cold it's lukewarm at best, due to this damn heat!" she explained with a frustrated edge in her voice. "So I came to see you, my only hope. What do you say Chris, make my boredom disappear?" Stephanie finished off explaining her presence in his room, all the while wiping some beads of sweat that continuously seemed to be falling from her head.  
  
"I wish I could Princess," Chris told her from his position back on his bed. "But I don't think I'll be much fun today. Why don't you go find someone else?" he asked her tiredly, as he gazed out the window, only to wince when his eyes caught the bright afternoon sun as it glared straight into them through his hotel room window.  
  
"Because you're more fun," she pleaded almost silently as she lifted up the tub of ice cream off the table and walked over to him, joining him where he lay only to sigh in frustration as the sheets on his bed weren't as cool as she had expected, but more of the unbearable heat that she was slowly becoming accustomed to. Opening the tub, she looked in and her assumptions were right, the ice cream she had originally bought, was now nothing more than liquid resulting from the insufferable weather that surrounded them. "I told you. Milkshake. You want it first?" Stephanie offered.  
  
Wordlessly Chris took the tub out of her hands and raised it to his mouth sighing in satisfaction as the cold liquid travelled down his throat giving him instant coolness. A few more gulps later he pulled it away and smiled gratefully at Stephanie. Who took the rest in her hands and drank from the tub, but neglected to do it slowly, allowing the ice cream to run out where her mouth didn't cover, which in turn made Chris chuckle gently at her actions. Pulling the container away from her mouth, Stephanie looked sheepishly over at Chris.  
  
"Do you have a towel?"  
  
"Yeah," Chris replied in an amused voice. "In the bathroom," he informed her, which caused her to pout in his general direction. "What?"  
  
"That's like, a whole other room away and actually involves movement." she told him.  
  
"Well I'm not getting it for you."  
  
"Then you'll just have to put up with ice-cream stains all over your sheets then." Stephanie explained to him.  
  
"I'm not cleaning them, what do I care?" Chris questioned.  
  
"Just so we're clear," Stephanie replied.  
  
"Oh crystal." was the lackadaisical retort.  
  
The evening came soon after and the outside world was suddenly a blanket of darkness, shadows regaining there hidden places, but the heat did not relent, it was still searing and always there; it had been for days. The sky an endless blue, with no imperfections, taunting them. Bearing down with only a yellow glint that seemed harmless at first, but if time would let it, it would burn, it's only passion, to make things hotter until there was no coolness left, until they were gulping down heat filled breaths.  
  
The sweat still clung to them both like it was a unwanted itch, that they had tried to rid many times, but that came back with force and was unrelenting. No matter how hard they tried the heat continued to thrive, causing them nothing but torture in the confined room. It was clammy, dank, humid, muggy, stifling and oppressive, if one of them didn't figure out something soon they would surely roast where they lay.  
"I've got an idea," Chris finally exclaimed, while suddenly jumping up with more energy than he had been showing the entire time Stephanie had been there.  
  
"Oh no, Chris Jericho with an actual idea," Stephanie said with a small smile. "This can't be good." Looking over in his direction, she saw him bend down and which gave her a full view of his butt. Her eyes dilated a little as they rested on that particular area, causing an unsuspecting thought to entre her mind that wasn't entirely unwelcome. He was her best friend, she had never really looked at him in that way before. Sure he was attractive and the self proclaimed sexy beast, but to her he had always been plain, old Chris Jericho. Sure, there were people that thought they did nothing but screw each other into exhaustion, but they weren't that close. Seeing him right now though, with sweat glistening his body, giving him the affect that he was gleaming, her thoughts weren't exactly all that innocent. Shaking her head slightly she tried hard to rid her thoughts and concentrated hard on what he was doing.  
  
Chris had walked over to the small, lone fridge that occupied his room and bent down, opening the fridge door he was rewarded with an instant chill drifting out from it. Turning his head to the side momentarily, he notice the glazed looked in Stephanie's eyes and the slight smile as she watched him from behind. He smirked to himself as he pulled an ice tray out of the freezer part of the fridge. "I say we cool off."  
  
"Ok," Stephanie started off hesitantly. "How do you propose we do that in the middle of a heat wave?" she finished asking looking at him with a wondering look in her eyes, silently hoping he had a good idea, because as much as she liked bing hot, this heat was slowly killing her and she couldn't take it anymore.  
  
"With ice Princess, with ice," Chris said walking over with the ice tray in his hand, basking in the coolness it gave him. He felt it start to melt in his hand, what once was a solid was slowly turning back into it natural form, dripping down from its place on the plastic container onto his hand, and slowly almost lingeringly it travelled down his arm giving his skin the relief it sought and needed from the blistering heat that surrounded him. "Would you like a piece?" he whispered.  
  
"Yes," Stephanie whispered back not sure why they were whispering but not caring enough to voice her question. Her mind was to preoccupied with the fact that Chris was standing in front of her, offering her a solution to the mind-numbing temperature it had decided to be for the past few days. Her eyes caught his and she silently wondered why she had never noticed how incredibly blue his eyes were before. She found them suddenly captivating, mesmerizing.  
  
Chris smirked at her and handed her a single piece of ice, which she took gladly and sighed in gratification. He sat down again on his bed beside her, with his own in his hand. He slowly took the ice and placed it on top of his chest closing his eyes at the sudden but welcomed coldness and revelled in it. His eyes opened as he heard a sigh escape Stephanie's lips, as he looked over at her he couldn't help but follow the path that the ice-cube travelled, leaving in its wake a trail of slowly vaporizing water. Thoughts roamed through his head, thoughts that had never before entered his mind. He blamed the heat. It did nothing but cause problems. It had to be the heat, because wishing that his lips were in fact that cube of ice, trailing that same path over Stephanie's body was something that had never been in his head before, and right now he had no desire to remove that thought one single bit.  
  
He moved towards her not really believing what he was about do, but neither worrying or caring that he was. His hand reached out slowly and caught her own in his as it made its decent. She looked up at him with confusion in her eyes that was still there as he moved towards her. "Chris..." Stephanie whispered almost silently, the question dying on her lips as her eyes widened and then closed as Chris's lips covered hers.  
  
The kiss in itself was awkward to begin with, there corse, dry lips touching, almost scrapping against each other. Chris pulled back slowly and slid his hand down the length of Stephanie's body, to where her hand lay next to the forgotten, melting ice cube. He took it in his hand and brought it up to Stephanie's lips, slowly moving the dwindling ice cube back and forth over them, until he was satisfied that there was enough moister on them. After dropping the ice cube, Chris looked into her eyes, preparing to explain his actions, when he felt Stephanie move up and raise her head capturing his lips with hers. Her lips were cold, such a welcoming change from the blistering heat surrounding them. He never thought kissing her would make his breath catch, at how right it felt, with there lips touching and there bodies entangled. If this was the last perfect moment he was to ever have in this life, he welcomed death to take him. His hand reached up and intertwined with her hair, pulling them closer together, building up a passion, a heat that wasn't unwelcoming this time.  
  
Stephanie's hand reached round onto his back, trying desperately to bring him closer than was possible, clawing for some sort of sanity through the extraordinary bliss she was feeling as his lips softly touched her with a hunger that burned her to the core. After what had felt like hours, Chris grudgingly pulled his lips away from hers. There breathing was ragged and they both were devouring the heat filled air that surrounded them like they had never came across it in there lives before..  
  
"I.." Chris started, only to stop as Stephanie's shaking finger covered his mouth.  
  
"Stop. No more words. Not tonight," she told him, with a small smile, that he mirrored. Chris lowered his head and kissed her again, and like before it made them both feel complete. They both silently wondered why they had never done this before now. Chris blindly moved his hand down until he felt the hem of Stephanie's tank top and slowly pulled it up and over her head, and flung it to the side discarding it.  
  
Morning came, slowly afterward and Stephanie found herself laying in bed silently watching Chris sleep. She reached forward and brushed away some of his hair that had fallen sometime during their sleep. He looked so peaceful, content. She smiled to herself; she was pretty sure she was feeling the same thing to. Pulling the discarded cover around her body she stood up and walked towards the window in the room. Pulling back the curtain she just stood and watched the world before her, all silently and calm. It was still early in the morning and the traffic had yet to pick up and the streets were empty unless the scarce businessman was to be counted.  
  
She felt two arms wrap around her from behind and pull her close into there body. "Morning," Chris said into the silence, kissing the top of her head. "What are you doing up so early?" he asked her.  
  
"I don't know, I'm just restless I guess," Stephanie explained to him.  
  
"I can think of a way to get rid of that," he told her cheekily, causing her to laugh.  
  
"You mean you actually have some energy left?" she wondered.  
  
"You're right, you wore me out," Chris told her with a sigh.  
  
"I don't love you," Stephanie told him, changing the subject.  
  
"I don't love you either," Chris answered back, pulling her tighter to him. " But that doesn't mean that I won't fall in love with you."  
  
Stephanie turned to him, still in his arms. "I didn't mean to be so blunt Chris. It's just last night threw me. You're my best friend and then we did what did, and the thing is I don't regret it. Not one bit," she explained.  
  
"So you're saying that you could fall in love with me to?" he asked.  
  
"I think that's entirely possible," Stephanie answered.  
  
"Good," Chris told her, and kissed her nose. "Well would you look at that," he exclaimed.  
  
"What?" Stephanie wondered, as she turned around, only to smile. "Rain."  
  
"It's about time, I was dying here,"  
  
"You and me both." Stephanie replied as she leaned back into Chris's embrace, content just to watch the rain fall from the sky, slowly getting heavy and heavier as the seconds ticked by. Wetting the ground below them and everything that didn't have shelter, giving it relief form the scorching heat that had once tormented it. Stephanie shivered at the change in temperature, finally glad to be free and feel the cold.  
  
"Come on lets go back to bed." Chris instructed, as he lead her to their bed. Minutes later they lay there snuggled up in each others arms, drifting off into a world of there dreams, that now included each other.  
  
The sun continued to rise outside but this time it would not burn, as the rain seemed to have cooled the earth for the time being rinsing away the unwanted heat and left nothing behind but a chill that was now craved for and high in the sky a rainbow shimmered starting the dawn of a new day.

**Fin.**


End file.
